Ambassadors For Jesus - Heart Matters, Part 2 (www.ambassadorsforJesus5.com) Are Mars and Venus Really That Different? Click on the words "True Colors" to view music video Psalm 42:7-8 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. Awhile back John Gray wrote a book that became a huge hit. Many of you probably remember it. The book entitled “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” held surprising new insights regarding the different languages men and women speak. I don’t recall all it contained and don’t believe I read the whole book, yet I did read a follow-up book by John entitled, “Mars and Venus on a Date”. My brother put it in my hands. Guess he thought I could use help in that department seeing I was somewhat clueless and according to the book, seems bro was right. I was one of those rare Venetians that lived on Mars. That seemed to explain a good deal of things. But enough about me, this all seems to be just another layer that springs from the deep. When it comes to the heart of things, are we all really that different? As we peel back the layers that divide us, we will find at core there is a common language we all share. It is a bridge that holds no biases. No matter how different things may seem, this language crosses the boundaries of gender, race, cultural differences, social status, political affiliation, and dialects. Additionally, it is known alike by the young and old, immature and mature, unlearned and learned. Those we have labeled as “mentally challenged and special needs” are fluent in it. Babies know it even before they learn to speak. It puts us all on the same playing field. So what is this universal language we all share? The unspoken language of the heart. Like the wonderful colors of a rainbow, the language of the heart is expressed in a variety of emotions. Sometimes we are blue with sorrow, sometimes we are red with passion and excitement. Other times we are pink with shyness as we blush. This wonderful language that we share has been given to us by our Creator who openly expresses Himself through emotions. It all springs from his great love for us for God is love. One cannot truly understand an emotion by being told about it or reading it. That is like standing in someone’s shadow. Unlike a script or mere words, emotions are alive. They are the expressions of the essence of a person and they breath. If we are to move out of someone’s shadow and truly take hold of them, we need to enter into them. If we are to understand another and allow them to mold our lives, we need to experience them. We need to have an encounter with them. We need to dive into their hearts and swim in it. At the least we should know God like this, then allow him to connect us with others as He sees fit. I may not agree with you regarding the dynamics of the surface details but I have known joy and sorrow, love and hate. I have mourned and I have danced. I have laughed and I have cried. No matter how you spell it, pronounce it, or where it is derived from, pain is pain. What on surface manifests as differences can find common ground in the waters of the deep. We may not all agree on how to stamp out hunger but we can all grieve for the devastation it brings. Am I advocating that we build our own "Tower of Babel", a bridge to life, one of our own uniting and making? God forbid. With that said we can understand that this bridge helps to get beyond the differences between us and close the gap that divides us as we come to see ourselves in our fellowman. At core we are all broken and frail claypots in need of the Potter's Touch. Therefore I want to encourage all through those moments in our lives that appear to be shrouded in darkness, circumstances not lit in the Light of Christ. God has not left you, He's doing a deeper work in you, calling to you from your place at the surface and inviting you to his place in the deep. There you will find your comfort and home held inside his Heart. This doesn't mean that we won't experience sorrow in our humanity in its present, fragile state. Although we can take comfort in knowing our Lord is not a foreigner to pain. He knows what it is like to be misunderstood, betrayed, rejected, and the recipient of unrequited love. Our Heavenly Father delights in sharing this intimate journey with us. To hold us close to his Heart as we share our true colors with Him, and in his wings of Love we will find shelter from the storm. This is where Venus and Mars and all of humanity in all its variety were meant to find their commonality and home, in the Light of his Son. Jesus is our Advocate and the only Bridge into the Heart of God. He was made to be broken bread and poured out wine so that we can partake of his Life; to move from the shadows of darkness into his glorious, transforming Light and be swallowed up by Love. Further reading: 2 Corinthians 3-4, "The Song of the Heart"

Ambassadors for Jesus

an Online Magazine

Heart Matters, Part 2

(www.ambassadorsforJesus5.com)

Are Mars and Venus Really That Different?

Click on the words "True Colors" to view music video

^{Psalm 42:7-8}

       Deep calls to deep
      in the roar of your waterfalls;
       all your waves and breakers
       have swept over me.

  By day the LORD directs his love,
       at night his song is with me—
       a prayer to the God of my life.

Awhile back John Gray wrote a book that became a huge hit. Many of you probably remember it. The book entitled “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” held surprising new insights regarding the different languages men and women speak. I don’t recall all it contained and don’t believe I read the whole book, yet I did read a follow-up book by John entitled, “Mars and Venus on a Date”. My brother put it in my hands. Guess he thought I could use help in that department seeing I was somewhat clueless and according to the book, seems bro was right. I was one of those rare Venetians that lived on Mars. That seemed to explain a good deal of things.

But enough about me, this all seems to be just another layer that springs from the deep. When it comes to the heart of things, are we all really that different?

As we peel back the layers that divide us, we will find at core there is a common language we all share. It is a bridge that holds no biases. No matter how different things may seem, this language crosses the boundaries of gender, race, cultural differences, social status, political affiliation, and dialects.

Additionally, it is known alike by the young and old, immature and mature, unlearned and learned. Those we have labeled as “mentally challenged and special needs” are fluent in it. Babies know it even before they learn to speak. It puts us all on the same playing field.

So what is this universal language we all share? The unspoken language of the heart. Like the wonderful colors of a rainbow, the language of the heart is expressed in a variety of emotions.

Sometimes we are blue with sorrow, sometimes we are red with passion and excitement. Other times we are pink with shyness as we blush.

This wonderful language that we share has been given to us by our Creator who openly expresses Himself through emotions. It all springs from his great love for us for God is love.

One cannot truly understand an emotion by being told about it or reading it. That is like standing in someone’s shadow. Unlike a script or mere words, emotions are alive. They are the expressions of the essence of a person and they breath. If we are to move out of someone’s shadow and truly take hold of them, we need to enter into them. If we are to understand another and allow them to mold our lives, we need to experience them. We need to have an encounter with them. We need to dive into their hearts and swim in it. At the least we should know God like this, then allow him to connect us with others as He sees fit.

I may not agree with you regarding the dynamics of the surface details but I have known joy and sorrow, love and hate. I have mourned and I have danced. I have laughed and I have cried. No matter how you spell it, pronounce it, or where it is derived from, pain is pain. What on surface manifests as differences can find common ground in the waters of the deep. We may not all agree on how to stamp out hunger but we can all grieve for the devastation it brings.

Am I advocating that we build our own "Tower of Babel", a bridge to life, one of our own uniting and making? God forbid. With that said we can understand that this bridge helps to get beyond the differences between us and close the gap that divides us as we come to see ourselves in our fellowman. At core we are all broken and frail claypots in need of the Potter's Touch.

Therefore I want to encourage all through those moments in our lives that appear to be shrouded in darkness, circumstances not lit in the Light of Christ. God has not left you, He's doing a deeper work in you, calling to you from your place at the surface and inviting you to his place in the deep. There you will find your comfort and home held inside his Heart.

This doesn't mean that we won't experience sorrow in our humanity in its present, fragile state. Although we can take comfort in knowing our Lord is not a foreigner to pain. He knows what it is like to be misunderstood, betrayed, rejected, and the recipient of unrequited love. Our Heavenly Father delights in sharing this intimate journey with us. To hold us close to his Heart as we share our true colors with Him, and in his wings of Love we will find shelter from the storm.

This is where Venus and Mars and all of humanity in all its variety were meant to find their commonality and home, in the Light of his Son. Jesus is our Advocate and the only Bridge into the Heart of God. He was made to be broken bread and poured out wine so that we can partake of his Life; to move from the shadows of darkness into his glorious, transforming Light and be swallowed up by Love.

Further reading: 2 Corinthians 3-4, "The Song of the Heart"

jo@ambassadorsforjesus5.com